You can also watch it in HD!

    The Cool Cans accomplished two things. First, it freshened up the stale pepsi look to appeal to younger drinkers. Its last major can redesign had been 1973. A year after the success of the Cool Can promotion, Pepsi made their first official logo change in almost 2 decades. Second, if you looked in the bottom of empty cans, some had a dollar value ($1, $5, $25, etc) which could be redeemed for cash.

    More information about the Pepsi Sex Cool Cans, check out Snopes.com for a great article on it. 

    Not to be outdone, Coca-Cola also released special cans in the summer of 1990. Things didn’t go nearly as well. MagiCans were an odd bit of engineering and technology. Unfortunately, it might have been a little ahead of its time. MagiCans were spring-loaded with actual cash. When you opened one of these, money would be lifted up, popping out of the can. Many malfunctioned, and a few people ended up drinking a disgusting mix of chlorinated water and aluminum sulfate.

    In many cans, the spring would get jammed and not release the prize inside. In these special cans there was also a sealed-off portion that contained liquid. ( to give the can enough weight so you wouldn’t know if you had a winning can until you opened it) In a few of the cans, that sealed-off portion wasn’t sealed tight enough.

   A whole article in the New York Times was devoted to the fiasco shortly after the promotion kicked off.

Worried about the bad publicity from that report, Coke took out advertisements yesterday in newspapers in 50 big United States markets. The full-page ads, to be run only once, warned consumers that a ”very small number” of cans contain a foul-smelling, but harmless, water that should not be drunk.

Coca-Cola also bought television time to deliver the same message.

    Nowadays new packaging designs seem to change yearly, if not seasonally, but back in summer of 1990, these limited time cans caused a lasting memory for many soda drinkers.

Note:  Coca-Cola is releasing a few summer can designs this year: 

Check out higher quality images over at Coca-Cola’s Website

You’d think Pepsi would have just released a vanilla version (which they eventually did in 2004) but they wanted to stir some colored shit up. They were riding high off of the success of Mountain Dew Code Red and thought they could make boatloads of cash infusing more drinks with bright colors. It didn’t quite work.

First of all, while a blue drink certainly does catch the eye, it’s not inherently clear what flavor “blue” is. Pepsi called it berry infusion. It was a sugary/blueberry raspberry/ultra carbonated/slightly cotton-candyish experience. With a hint of cola.

Somewhat interesting note: Pepsi Blue used Blue 1 (Brilliant Blue FCF) as a colorant. At the time it was banned in several countries because of health concerns. People with existing asthma, for example, could experience an allergic reaction to it. Since Pepsi Blue’s demise, the colorant has largely been un-banned.

How were its first year sales compared to Vanilla Coke? According to a NY Times article in 2003:

As in much of the beverage industry, sales of soft drinks by PepsiCo continued to decline despite new products. While Sierra Mist generated a spike in sales, any significant increase was largely negated by Pepsi Blue, which the company said had not sold as well as it had hoped.

A big marketing push featuring commercials starring Britney Spears, Papa Roach, and Sev didn’t help. The writing was on the wall for Blue. By 2004 it was off the shelves in the US completely.

Even some fans of the drink say it was an acquired taste, and many simply didn’t give it a real chance. Apparently, Indonesia and Mexico are still selling it, and there have been rumors that Pepsi Blue will return to the US market in 2009 for a limited time.

For those in need of a Pepsi Blue fix NOW, I’ve got two suggestions for you. 1) Jolt Cola’s Blue Raspberry and 2) Mountain Dew Voltage. They’re not quite the same, but it might just get you through those withdrawal fits if your still a Pepsi Blue fiend.

A Classique Pepsi Blue Commercial:

The video that’s embedded here is a bit smaller so it fits in the blog. You can click here and watch the full size version.

P.S. sorry for the crappy quality of the video. I’m going to have to invest in one of those Flip HD camera’s.

What are you doing? Seriously. The pussyfication of your brand HAS GOT TO STOP. What sort of market research persuaded your company to actively avoid the entire male population? Now look, I’m not saying you need to go after Halo 3-playing frat guys, but you’re making dudes embarassed to even drink your stuff.

Obviously I made up the concept of 7 Up Estrogen, but I debated even posting the image for fear of exec’s seeing it and thinking it was a brilliant move. Please…don’t use this. My other concept was for “7 Up: Morning After”, the Plan B soft drink.  That actually isn’t an entirely bad idea. But I digress.

Proof of 7 Up’s lady-pandering ways is pretty evident based on their line extensions the past few years. Exhibit A:

Oh my, what a fanciful drink we have here. Labia pink, sparkles a plenty, MIXED BERRY. I do not know one man who would be caught dead holding that can of carbonated sissy. Look! It’s sweetened with Splenda! What a guilt-free drink to grab on your way to Curves. This 7 Up also contains fruit juice, vitamin C, and calcium. No chance of getting osteoporosis on 7 Up’s watch. No siree. 7 Up Plus also comes in Cherry and Island Menstruation…I mean fruit. Island fruit.

Exhibit B is the new Cherry 7 Up. Excuse me: Cherry 7 Up Antioxidant. Who the hell is under the spell that drinking ANY soda is healthy? If you want a healthy drink, you’re going to down some carrot juice or something, not sugar water. 7 Up contains fruit juice, but it clocks in at around 5%. The mere fact they’re allowed to label it as containing fruit juice is a joke. My bowel movements probably contain more fruit juice in it, and I’m on a strict vodka tonic diet. You can’t even buy regular Cherry 7 Up now. It’s all this antioxidant crap. Not that it affects the taste or anything, but the concept just bugs me. I can just envision some stupid broad taking a look at the label and babbling about free radicals and how this will help in her breast cancer prevention regimen. So annoying.

It wasn’t always this way. I remember a somewhat cooler 7 Up, with a sly little sunglass-wearing red dot full of attitude who hopped out of the logo and right into our hearts:

Remember Cool Spot?! Yeah, they made a videogame out of 7 Up’s mascot and released it for the SNES, Genesis, PC, and a variety of other consoles.  Now those were the good old days.  The game was even considered a commercial  success and spawned a few sequels. Look at that little dude. He’s ready to rip your motherfucking face up if you cross him. That’s the kind of 7 Up I want, not the frilly lace abomination it has become.

The beginning of this decade started out with a glimmer of hope for old 7 Up. They released dnL (it’s upside down 7 Up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) which was kind of good. Much like the opposite sketches on You Can’t Do That On Television, this drink was all topsy turvy from the original 7 Up. Normal 7 Up was clear and came in a green bottle, so dnL was green and came in a clear bottle. 7 Up was lemon-lime, so dnL would be lime-lemon.  As you can tell, it was almost annoyingly clever. While it was discontinued in 2005, like all worthwhile beverages, it retains a cult following. Oh, and it wasn’t aimed at menopausal women.

This was supposed to be an open letter to 7 Up. Let me get back on track here.  Marketing a drink toward females is fine. But let’s not go overboard and alienate men from all of your products. Go ahead and keep your Antioxidant and Calcium infused drinks, but maybe bring back dnL, or introduce 7 Up With Monoxidil or something. 7 Up + Enzyte?

Thanks for your time!

Signed,

America

You’ll probably need to click it to enlarge the map so you can read the data, but basically, “Pop” is popular in the North and Midwest states, “Soda” is the term used most frequently in the North East and Western states, and a generalized “coke” is used primarily in the South.  For more maps and data, check out PopVsSoda.com

In the 60’s came the slogan, “The Worlds Most Misunderstood Soft Drink”, which isn’t quite as grand as the KING OF ALL BEVERAGES, but probably more accurate. A lot of people lump Dr Pepper in with Pepsi and Coke, but it’s not a cola. It’s…something else. Oh, and BTW, Dr Pepper is NOT cherry flavored. I hate when I got to a resturant and ask for a Dr Pepper and the waitress says, “We don’t have that. Is Cherry Coke OK?” No. No it’s not OK. It’s two different flavors. You might as well offer me a fucking Fresca, lady.

Anyway, I’ve got two mp3’s found on an advertising CD from Dr Pepper’s history. They’re both pretty cringe worthy, although I totally remember the second one, so it happens to be my favorite. It’s on heavy rotation in iTunes and I sing along with it everytime. Off key, of course. I love that faux-rockin’ number.

The first cut is the classic 70’s commercial, “I’m a Pepper, You’re a Pepper”.  Listen: I’m a Pepper, You’re a Pepper

Here’s the other one called “Make The World Taste Better”. I thought this was from the late 80’s or early 90’s, but all the info I found says it’s from the early 2000’s. Listen: Make The World Taste Better

I found even more cool OK soda info. OK was the unofficial drink of the “alternative” generation that was test marketed in the md 90’s but was discontinued before a national roll-out. Unless otherwise noted, the information and graphics are from long defunct web sites. Through the Internet Archive, I was able to pull some of this stuff up. Normally, I wouldn’t swipe other people’s work, but since it’s no longer available, I thought I’d preserve it.

THE LIST OF OK COINCIDENCES:

COINCIDENCE #3
JAMES S. OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS DRANK A CAN
OF “OK” AND FOUND HE COULD DANGLE NOT ONLY A
SPOON FROM THE END OF HIS NOSE, BUT ALSO A
FORK, AND AFTER SEVERAL CANS, SOMETIMES A
KNIFE AS WELL.

WHILE A VIDEOTAPE OF THESE EVENTS DOES EXIST AT
“OK” SODA HEADQUARTERS, THERE IS SOME CONCERN
IT MAY HAVE BEEN MANIPULATED. THEREFORE, WE
URGE YOU TO DISREGARD THIS STORY AND SIMPLY
BEAR IN MIND THAT THINGS ARE GOING TO BE OK.(TM)

 COINCIDENCE #7
IN AN UNIDENTIFIED AMERICAN CITY, LARRY F. DRANK
THREE CANS OF “OK” AND DISCOVERED, MUCH TO HIS
SURPRISE, THAT HE WAS NOW ABLE TO SEE THROUGH
THREE DIMENSIONAL OBJECTS, INCLUDING CATS, CHAIRS,
AND DRESSES. ALSO, HIS SENSE OF SMELL BECAME SO
ACUTE THAT HE COULD TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A
FIVE AND TEN DOLLAR BILL BY THE ODOR ALONE.

THESE PERSONAL ABILITIES BEAR NO CONNECTION TO “OK.”
PLEASE CONTINUE TO DRINK “OK” FOR THE TASTE, ETC.,
AND FOCUS ON THE THOUGHT THAT THINGS ARE GOING
TO BE OK.(TM)

 COINCIDENCE #14
THE NIGHT HE FIRST TRIED “OK” SODA, RICK B. OF AURORA,
COLORADO PUT A FULL CAN UNDER HIS PILLOW AND WENT
TO SLEEP. HE DREAMED HE WAS CRAWLING THROUGH
AN ENDLESS GRAVEL PIT, PARCHED WITH THIRST. WHEN HE
AWOKE, HIS THIRST HAD DISAPPEARED, AND HE FELT
STRANGELY SATISFIED. NOTE: THE CAN OF “OK,” STILL
UNOPENED, WAS EMPTY. THIS IS ONLY A COINCIDENCE.

 COINCIDENCE #19
BETH H. OF DE WITT, ARKANSAS USED TO
THINK EVERYTHING HAPPENED RANDOMLY.
AFTER A SINGLE GULP OF “OK,” SHE CAME TO
BELIEVE THE UNIVERSE WAS ORGANIZED
AROUND SOME CENTRAL PURPOSE, ALTHOUGH
SHE WASN’T SURE EXACTLY WHAT. WHEN
REACHED AT HOME FOR FURTHER COMMENT,
BETH MUMBLED SOMETHING ABOUT “OK-NESS,”
BUT REFUSED TO ELABORATE.

 COINCIDENCE #22
ROGER S. OF REDMOND, WASHINGTON WAS DRINKING HIS
FIRST BOTTLE OF “OK” WHEN RAIN BEGAN TO POUR FROM
THE SKY. YET AFTER A 20-MINUTE WALK, HE ARRIVED
AT HIS DOORSTEP COMPLETELY DRY. ROGER FEELS THIS
IS RELATED TO THE “OK” SODA HE WAS DRINKING. WE
BELIEVE IT HAD MORE TO DO WITH THE OVERSIZED
UMBRELLA HE WAS CARRYING. IN EITHER CASE, WE URGE
YOU TO BELIEVE THAT THINGS ARE GOING TO BE OK,(TM)
AND DRINK “OK” THROUGH FAIR WEATHER AND FOUL.

COINCIDENCE #231
THIS COINCIDENCE HAS YET TO BE DETERMINED. THE REMAINING
TEXT WILL BE FAKE. HEDS VONF BA DIGENGSED FO HIELM BJUS
GETTALO VER FRANS KLAERDF NIMWEDDS AJED ISPLONE FORBAT
NOGINSH GERBIAL FLAGH IS. NOWAS GOVED BER BLAASH DIDSEE
GOMGE. ER FRANS “OK-NESS” KDA MDINESD GLINE FRE. ADKF
A UF JFLAILJIUG; JI RTOIURT RLKJ FH NACCN MOKD LUPU. HESL
USLEOC, GJISW JL IEOSPW EIXOE VNIUE MSIELSOX SLWOC
IDFLJFAL MJ XJHF. THIS IS ONLY A COINCIDENCE.

COINCIDENCE #382
IN HER THIRD WEEK OF MOURNING A DYING ROMANCE, KAT J.
OF BOSTON BOUGHT A 12-PACK OF “OK” AT HER CORNER
STORE. AFTER A FEW CANS, SHE HAD DIFFICULTY RECALLING
THE NAME OF HER EX. AFTER ANOTHER CAN, KAT STOPPED
CHECKING HER ANSWERING MACHINE OBSESSIVELY. BY THE
END OF THE WEEK, A FEELING OF “OK-NESS” HAD OVERCOME
HER AND SHE HAS SINCE GIVEN VERY LITTLE THOUGHT TO
EVENTS THAT HAPPENED BEFORE SHE DRANK “OK.”

12 PACK PACK DESIGN: EXTERIOR
Click Image To Expand, Or Check Out Our Flickr Page For Even Bigger Size

    

     

Click Image To Expand, Or Check Out Our Flickr Page For Even Bigger Size

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OK VENDING MACHINE:

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The citrus drink was aimed directly as a competitor to Pepsi’s Mountain Dew. Sales of Surge were promising for the first few years, but eventually started to slip. Production ended in 2001, and the syrup for fountain drinks stopped being made a year later. In Norway, though, the drink is still available to this day under the name “Urge”.

After an Internet campaign to bring back Surge generated media attention, Coca-Cola began work on its successor, Vault. They’ve never come out and officially said Vault is the cousin to Surge, but most of the ingredients are the same, and the taste is reportedly similar. Still, Surge purists say Vault isn’t good enough and they want their Surge back. http://www.savesurge.org is a great resource for all things Surge.

I’m hoping to get a Distorted View listener from Norway to send me a few bottles of Urge to compare to Vault. I’ll get to the bottom of this mystery yet!

Here are a bunch of television commercials for Surge. It was pretty clear who these ads were targeted to.

On April 20th, 1994, Coca-Cola announced the launch of OK to combat the sluggish sales that  Coke and Pepsi were experiencing. This slump was also responsible for another beloved-but-failed soda a few years earlier: Crystal Pepsi. Both OK and Crystal tried to tap into new markets, attempting to appeal to those not interested in traditional colas. In Pepsi’s case, it was the misguided notion that “anything clear must seem healthier”, thus snagging  intake conscious consumers and possibly some of those bottled water drinkers that took a bite out of PepsiCo’s profits. In Coke’s case they decided to go after a slightly different demo: Generation X.

After the New Coke debacle of the mid 1980’s, Coca Cola was a little skiddish about rocking the boat with new products. Sure, they won back the consumer when they resorted back to the original formula, but the people who made a real stink over New Coke were the old timers: people who grew up with Coke. The visceral hatred for New Coke had every bit to do with the feeling the drink conjured up as much as it did with the actual taste. To  nab some fresh blood, Coca-cola was going to created a soda specifically for the 12-25 year old crowd. And they were going to sell it not on taste, but on feeling.

In perhaps one of the strangest moments of the story, Coca Cola decided to hire back Sergio Zyman in 1993. Zyman was the marketing executive behind New Coke and one of the first fired for the colossal blunder. One of his first tasks back was to redesign the cans and advertising campaigns of Coke and Diet Coke. After these successes, Zyman was allowed to go off and create new potential products for the company.

While coming up with his new soda, Zyman learned that according to market research, “Coke” was the second-most recognized word in the world. “OK” was the first. With that kind of name recognition, it only made sense to call the drink “OK Soda”. With the name decided on, Zyman then set out to change the way the product would be marketed.

The stereotypes surrounding Generation Xers (those in the coveted marketing demographic) include having  a cynical nature, skepticism to the media, and a general frustration with traditional mores.  To sum up, it’s a difficult bunch to successfully advertise to. Even more so because in the early 90’s, no one had even really tried to.

OK Soda attempted to market itself with a campaign mocking traditional soft-drink sales pitches. The idea was to be honest and say, “Yeah, you’re totally being manipulated into buying this product.”  The actual goal was to persuade consumers that OK was a too-cool-for-school soda rebel made by indie folks, not by a large corporate behemoth like Coca Cola.

For its initial launch, Coca-Cola commissioned Fantagraphics, a publisher of alternative comics and graphic novels, to design four cans. Each of these cans only used black, gray, white, and red coloring and featured artwork and various sayings, such as: “OK Soda says, ‘Don’t be fooled into thinking there has to be a reason for everything”. These were part of the OK Manifesto. Others include:

- Never overestimate the remarkable abilities of “OK” brand soda.
- Please wake up every morning knowing that things are going to be OK.
- OK Soda emphatically rejects anything that is not OK, and fully supports anything that is.
- What’s the point of OK? Well, what’s the point of anything?

Also on each can was a “Coincidence”. The can I purchased on E-bay includes the following:

Coincidence #14

The night he first tried “OK” Soda, Rick B. of Aurora, Colorado put a full can under his pillow and went to sleep. He dreamed he was crawling through an endless gravel pit, parched with thirst. When he awoke, his thirst had disappeared, and he felt strangely satisfied. NOTE: the can of “OK”, still unopened, was empty. This is only a coincidence.

Cans listed a toll free  number to call: 1-800-I-FEEL-OK, where people could leave OK-related messages. Later, television commercials for OK would occasionally feature some voicemails left on the line. The most infamous was from Pam. H who said:

“Ah, this is Pam H. from Newton, Massachusetts, and I resent you saying that everything is going to be O.K. You don’t know anything about my life. You don’t know what I’ve been through in the last month. I really resent it. I’m tired of you people trying to tell me things that you don’t have any idea about. I resent it. ((Click!))”. (from wikipedia)

I found a bunch of old soundbytes from 1-800-I-FEEL-OK. Take a listen and you too will agree: Things are going to be OK.

You’ve Reached 1-800-I-FEEL-OK | Limited Menu | You Didn’t Press A Button | Stuffed Animals | Perpetual Hold | The OK Manifesto | Calling From A Rotary Phone |

Zyman predicted that OK would take about 4% of the beverage market in areas where OK Soda was being test marketed. Unfortunately, after 7 months, that number barely reached 3%. The soda was considered a failure and a national rollout never materialized. According to a 1995 newspaper article:

The Coca-Cola Company will gradually phase out sales of its OK soda, which it started selling on a trial basis last year. A Coca-Cola spokesman, Randy Donaldson, said on Monday that the company had sold more than one million cases since its introduction in July 1994. That was not enough to keep the product going, he said. “We just didn’t generate the type of profitable volume we needed with OK, so we decided not to continue it in those test markets,” he said.

I wonder if OK Soda would have been a little more successful today. I think we’re all  more used to strange and alternative marketing tactics and because of that the soda might have found a wider appeal. For those of you wondering what it tasted like, according to Wikipedia:

OK Soda had a more “citric” taste than traditional colas, almost like a Fruit Punch version of Coke’s Fresca. It has been described as “slightly spicy” and likened to a combination of orange soft drink and flat Coca-Cola.

Dammit! I’ve mentioned many times of my love for mixing orange soft drink and Dr. Pepper together at the fountain. I wish I could have tried OK Soda when it was around. I mean, the can I got from E-bay *IS* full…but its like 15 years old. I can’t imagine it would still taste…well..OK.

Update:  I’ve got more to share with you regarding OK Soda. Click Here to read my 2nd OK Soda post.

The history of 7-Up Gold actually begins over at Dr Pepper where the formula was invented. In 1986, The Dr Pepper Company and 7-Up began their merge together and by 1987 they were officially one. It was perfect timing, really. 7-UP had just launched Cherry 7-Up which captured 1% of the entire soda market. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but those were huge numbers, and 7-Up wanted a quick follow up hoping lighting would strike twice. The problem was, it takes a lot of time to come up new products. They found one ready to go in the unused Dr Pepper formula.

The first problem: 7-UP Gold kind of goes against everything 7-Up was selling itself as: caffeine-free, crisp, citrusy, and clear. As a matter of fact, the slogan ”Never Had It, Never Will.” was touting the fact  7-UP was a caffeine-free drink. Guess what Gold had in it? Caffeine. And it wasn’t clear. It was amber in color…almost cola-like.  As for the taste, it was described as cinnamon-spicy (it WAS designed over at Dr Pepper, afterall) with a hint of apple and ginger-ale flavoring.

The idea of marketing the drink as a completely new brand and not just a line extension of 7-UP was quickly shot down because of the large amount of money it would take to establish the name. Besides, the idea here was to quickly launch another Cherry 7-Up. Success of that drink went right to the executive’s heads and they made another big mistake:  little test marketing. Instead they pushed Gold quickly onto the shelves with a large marketing blitz.

One of the reasons Cherry 7-UP immediately clicked was because it’s a descriptive product name. People kind of know what to expect with a cherry flavored drink. If you know what you’re in for, you’re probably more willing to give it a try. What exactly does “Gold” taste like? My first thought was “metallic”, which is not necessarily a good aftertaste for a drink. The company went with “Gold” because it conjures of the image of  quality or high standards. The drink was also hard to label because of its unusual flavor, so they didn’t even bother trying to go that route.

Instead of capturing another 1% of the soft drink market, 7-Up Gold was about to clinch on to %0.1. Yikes. Initial sales were good, but they quickly slid, and according to the NY Times article by Douglas C. McGill, it started to bring sales of Cherry 7-Up down with it. That was enough for executives, and in less than a year, Gold had disappeared from shelves completely.

Check out this 7-Up Gold commercial:

Fun Fact: Kyle Gass, of Tenacious D fame is the 7-UP / pizza delivery dude in this ad. History!

First up, Sprite Green is another (ugh) diet variation. I know there are a LOT of people who enjoy the diet versions, but it pisses me off to no end that we get Diet Pepsi, Diet Pepsi Vanilla, Diet Pepsi Lime, Diet Pepsi Lemon, Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi, Pepsi Max, etc etc etc, but we don’t get these options in the non-diet lineup.  I want my Pepsi Vanilla back for the love of GOD! Alright, I’ve calmed down. So, yeah, another diet soda is on it’s way. 

What makes Sprite Green special is that it’s going to be sweetened with a Stevia product. If you’re not familiar with Stevia, let me school you. Stevia is a plant found in South America that contains sweet leaves. Used as a sweetner, Stevia is something like 30 gazillion times as sweet as regular old sugar. Eating it raw will literally turn the blood running through you veins into Pixy Stix. But oddly enough, according to Stevia’s wikipedia entry: “Because stevia has a negligible effect on blood glucose, it is attractive as a natural sweetener to people on carbohydrate-controlled diets.” So all you wacky diabetics can enjoy it without worrying about your toes getting gangrene-y or slipping into some sort of sugar fit.

When I was working at an Internet radio station in Dallas, TX, there was a consumer advocate lady who had her own show. She was kind of a crackpot (one of her shows was on the importance of reversing the polarity of water using some tinfoiled head guy’s device) and had me taste Stevia. At that time, she said, Stevia was allowed to be sold as a sweetner, but the FDA wouldn’t allow it to be added to products (such as colas) because the powerful Sugar lobby was trying to kill Stevia, or some nutjob bullshit like that.

By the way, I tried pure Stevia and it was awful. Just a little FYI for you, there. Hopefully  Coke figured out a way to de-funkify it. For this product, they’re using “TRUVIA”, which is just a brand name for stevia. Same junk.

From Coca Cola’s Press Release:

Developed jointly by Cargill and The Coca-Cola Company, TRUVIA natural sweetener is a great-tasting, zero-calorie natural sweetener using rebiana, which comes from the best-tasting part of the stevia leaf. Harvested at the peak of sweetness, stevia leaves are dried and steeped in water, much like tea. This extract is then further refined and purified. The finished product is the pure, natural sweetness of rebiana.

Sprite Green is naturally sweetened with TRUVIA brand sweetener and has 50 calories per 8.5-ounce serving and 5% lemon juice. Sprite Green was created to appeal to active young adults and will be launched in two U.S. cities this month in distinctive 8.5-ounce aluminum bottles. Initial availability will be limited to teen and young adult-oriented locations and events with a broader rollout planned for early 2009. Sprite Green complements the Sprite brand’s leading lemon-lime and zero-calorie lemon-lime sparkling beverages.

So, this thing was supposed to be released in a few markets in late 2008, with a wider rollout in ‘09, but I don’t see that happening. What happened? (Insert conspiracy theory here. THE SUGAR LOBBY MADE SPRITE GREEN SWIM WITH THE FISH!!!)  Did you (or do you still have) Sprite Green in your area?

UPDATE: Sprite Green presented a private event introducing itself to Chicago On April 20th. Should continue rolling out soon! Did it tase good? According to tweets, there was a mixed reaction. Jury’s still out on that one, I guess.

Below is the bottle design Coke provided.

While I haven’t seen this air on television yet, Throwback is only scheduled to be sold for 8 short weeks, so I’m guessing it’ll be popping up soon. Also no word if this is the only spot for Throwback, or if there will be more commercials in a series.

For those of you who can’t watch this thing, here’s a transcript of the voiceover (spoken in a Barry White-Like voice over a funky beat)

Pepsi’s got another hit on its hands and it’s called Pepsi Throwback. Introducing Pepsi Throwback, made with natrual sugar. Only for a limited time. Haha…sing it, baby.

What did you think of the ad? Here are some screen caps:

Whether it’s because people go nuts over any little bit of nostalgia or they actually miss the unique cola-ish taste, there are many sites devoted to Crystal Pepsi today. But what were people saying when the product was launched?

To answer this question, I turned to the Internet. Now back in 1992, the WWW was barely out of the womb, so I looked to Usenet, the net’s original giant message board system. Not all Usenet messages have been preserved, but I found a few from the early to mid-90’s that shed a little more light on Crystal Pepsi.

First up: Hackers Love Crystal Pepsi (For Lunch)

From: je…@panix.com (Jeff Jonas)
Date: Mar 8 1993, 6:56 pm
Subject: Coke vs. Pepsi; the hacker choice? (was Re: CMU Coke machine)
To: alt.folklore.computers

I can’t say there are geographical reasons for Coke/Pepsi since the home of Coke is Atlanta and the home of Pepsi is the Carolinas (I can’t recall exactly what city is the “home” of Pepsi). Both are on the east coast.

At college (the Cooper Union, NY), Coke was the preferred beverage (Jolt didn’t exist yet) At work, Coke cans were taken before thePepsiwere exhausted, so Coke was preferred.  But when we’re lunching together these days, I see most of us have bottles and cans of Crystal Pepsi- the clear  pepsi with no color or caffeine. Coke has got to develop a clear cola to compete with Snapple and Pepsi for they’re really losing market share! I alternate Dr. Pepper and Crystal Pepsi at lunch. Dr. Pepper has an incentive: there are prizes under the caps such as free bottles.

Next: Something WORSE than Crystal Pepsi?

From: s1398…@UMASSD.EDU
Date: Jan 9 1993, 2:21 am
Subject: crystal pepsi
To: alt.whine

 If you think that crystal pepsi is bad, how about this. I went to
the store and found that they have CLEAR TAB… a rip-off of a lousy drink. I mean crystal pepsi is bad enough without a stinking copy cat, and Tab no less, I thought they stopped making those groovy pink cans of soda years  ago!
 AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!
Moxie is much better anyway

Finally: An Observation…

From: cs166…@sdcc5.ucsd.edu (Mark Rotenberg)
Date: Feb 7 1993, 7:35 am
Subject: Coke vs. Crystal Pepsi???
To: rec.humor

Anyone notice thatPepsi’snew product is named after a drug (Crystal Methamphetamine), just like Coke (Cocaine)?

“Pass me a little more Coke… No, I want some of theCrystal…”

There you go: people talking about Crystal Pepsi back when it was still available. In other news: I won a full bottle of Diet Crystal Pepsi that has turned a urine shade of yellow. Dare I drink it? I smell videocast!

From Pepsi’s Press Release: Pepsi and Mountain Dew are offering consumers a taste of the past with their own versions of Throwback, two new limited time only products inspired by the ’60s and ’70s, sweetened with natural sugar in a retro-look package. For some, it will be a trip down memory lane, but for those too young to remember, it will be a chance to experience a new twist on their favorite brands

By the way, I have to mention Pepsi made a HUGE mistake with their packaging. The image near the top of the article is not what the bottle design look likes. Instead, we get this:

BORING, right?  To me, it looks too similar to what the normal pepsi packaging looks like. As a matter of fact, unless you’re looking specifically for the throwback variation, I doubt you’d even stop to notice this thing. That first image was some initial artwork Pepsi dreamt up, but instead decided to go with that sizzling blue on blue number, because we’ve never seen that before. Below is what Mountain Dew Throwback was going to look like (left) and how it ended up (right)

Let’s hope enough people search these out, make it a huge seller, and force Pepsi keep them as a year-round product. Have you tried them out yet? Good? Bad? Indifferent?

 I’ve been wanting to start a site devoted to the love of soda’s Past for awhile now. Up until recently the main reason for putting this project on the backburner was my belief there simply was no need for it. After all, who wants to read about online petitions to bring back Josta, the history of Surge, Or how even though EVERYONE says “Mr. Pibb”, the name and formula is long gone, since replaced with Pibb Xtra? Apparently, there ARE many out there who do (which is why you’re here, hopefully)

Much like the content of this site, my fulltime job is a bit strange. I’m a podcaster. For four years I’ve hosted a successful show called Distorted View Daily. Occasionally I’d bring up the topic of my love for soda and each time I did, I would get comments and E-mails from listeners letting me know I wasn’t the only one with  this odd fascination with pop. 

While I’ve always been a fan of soda, the moment I realized I was a complete freak was during the 2002 launch of Coke Vanilla. I found myself at the local grocery store everyday for a week straight waiting for it to hit the shelves. After I came to terms with my obsession, I began researching other drinks that have come and gone. Next, I started a collection of cans and bottles of discontinued soda (the mark of a true Pop Nut). Now, I’m launching Fizzled Out, for other soda freaks to unite.

While this site will be devoted to lost and forgotten drinks, I also hope to keep up with the lastest soda news and product launches. After all, today’s new drink will most likely be tomorrow’s fizzled out failure (Coke Blak, anyone?) Down the road, I’d love to interview some of the people involved with the design of some our favorite long gone sodas.  Finally, your comments and contributions will be most appreciated. If you have a favorite drink or soda memory, let me know!

Again, welcome to Fizzled Out!

-Tim Henson